Committee publication · Correspondence · 16 July 2026
Letter from MoneySavingExpert relating to Regulating water, energy and broadband, dated 10 July 2026
Summary
MoneySavingExpert.com submits follow-up evidence to the Public Accounts Committee on regulating water, energy and broadband. The letter addresses two main areas: strategies to increase social tariff uptake through clearer eligibility, better communication, single application gateways, and automatic enrolment; and a proposal for a 'Share Once' system enabling people with mental health problems to disclose support needs once across multiple essential service providers.
Key findings
- Social tariff take-up is hindered by low awareness, complex eligibility criteria varying by company or location, difficult sign-up processes, low trust, and lack of competitiveness with standard tariffs
- Solutions for social tariffs include simpler eligibility criteria, targeted communications via comparison sites, single application gateways across services, and automatic enrolment using government data matching
- Only 14% of people with mental health problems have disclosed their condition to financial services providers and 12% to energy providers, despite 46% of the public supporting a 'Share Once' system
- The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute proposes a 'Share Once Support Register' enabling once-only disclosure of support needs across energy, water, telecoms, and financial services sectors
- Data safeguards, consent controls, and a clear redress mechanism are essential to address public concerns about data control and misuse in a Share Once system
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
MoneySavingExpert.com, Martin Lewis, Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Dominic Lindley, Department for Business and Trade, Ofgem, Ofwat, Ofcom
Notable line
“This needs to be sold to customers in the same way that firms are trying to sell them other tariffs …”
Key Quotes
“It needs to be done in the same way that firms sell. This needs to be sold to customers in the same way that firms are trying to sell them other tariffs, and it needs to be done with a legitimiser from the regulator with proper communication: "You are entitled to this.”
“People struggling with their mental health need a simpler way to tell banks, energy firms and other providers that they need support – with the majority currently missing out on extra help due to how daunting the existing process can be.”
“Disclosure rates are very low: just 14% of people with mental health problems have told their financial services provider about their condition, and only 12% have done so with their energy provider.”
“Eight in ten people with recent experience of mental health problems were concerned about not having control over what information is shared.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗